Softwood Alcove Shelving

[joiner_sim]

It's not much really but thought I'd post the 1" thick softwood shelves that I made and fitted a while ago. The shelves are approximatley 12" deep and span just over 1 metre. I made the shelves up out of two 6" boards, tongue and grooved and glued together. They have been fitted now for about 2-3months and have only slightly cupped, hopefully no more cupping to come! :roll:

I wish I'd taken the pictures before the family got the chance to fill up the shelves, but didn't get a digital camera until christmas!

The shelves are supported by 25x12mm battens, screwed onto the wall. To make the screws look slightly more attractive, I used screw cups, which I think looks fine. The shelves are just sitting on top of the battens, no screws or anything as to allow for movement in the timber.

On the front edges I put a decorative moulding on the bottom and a smooth pencil round on the top. The shelves are coated in a mahogany stain, to match the existing fireplace.

 

[PowerTool]

Nice useful project,I agree that the screw cups give it a "classier" look

Andrew

 

[Waka]

Nothing wrong with those, they look good. I guess the only thing I'd comment on would be the spacing.

 

[joiner_sim]

As you could guess, specifications lead to the spacings! My dad wanted to be able to get some of the big books on the top and bottom shelves, without the shelving being way too high, and as you can see theres part of a sliding door system that comes into the alcove so the shelves really needed to be all under that.

 

[OPJ]

Good use of space, I like it.

Are the shelves fixed (screwed?) in any way or do they just rest on top?

Did you scribe the ends of the boards to match the walls?

The best way to avoid cupping would probably have been to use narrower boards - odd numbers are good at this as there's no centreline so, even if they do go funny, it can almost even itself out... It wouldn't matter how it looks as they're not going to be seen! :wink:

What moulding have you put on the front edges?

 

[joiner_sim]

The shelves just rest on top to allow for movement.

I did scribe the shelves in as the walls were straight or square! :roll: I even found that on one of the shelves I had to scribe a little bit of the back out so that it was in line with the other two shelves. To get a template for the scribing, I got some plywood that was smaller than the alcove and taped on cardboard to give me the exact size and angles. Only a small amount of trimming was then needed to fit.

Maybe 3 boards would have been a better idea, but the thought never crossed my mind until now!

I used a trend router cutter, Guided Ogee radius 4mm.